


Someone Will Ask You Out Soon

by Imagines_Dreams



Series: Melendaire Fix-It's [3]
Category: The Good Doctor (TV 2017)
Genre: Asking Out, Banter, F/M, Fluff, SO MUCH FLUFF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-03
Updated: 2020-04-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:55:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23457409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Imagines_Dreams/pseuds/Imagines_Dreams
Summary: Claire and Neil may have admitted to being in love but nothing else. This is how one of them finally asked the other out.
Relationships: Claire Browne & Morgan Reznick, Claire Browne/Neil Melendez, Shaun Murphy & Alex Park, Shaun Murphy & Morgan Reznick & Claire Browne & Alex Park
Series: Melendaire Fix-It's [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1685704
Comments: 13
Kudos: 82





	Someone Will Ask You Out Soon

Dr. Browne went back to work. There were only so many sick days disguised as days to visit your attending that you could take. It was different not working with Neil. Dr. Melendez. Dr. Andrews was still an attending surgeon, but he was joined by a Dr. Chapman, who transferred from St. Andrews’s sister hospital. 

When Dr. Browne was on her lunch break, she quickly ate her lunch before heading over to Neil’s hospital room. He looked good, especially since he was well. Her copy of Pride and Prejudice was in his hands. There was also a notepad by his side, and he seemed to be taking notes of some sort.

She knocked on the open door. “Enjoying my book?”

“Hardly.” He didn’t look up from the book. “You’ve spoiled the ending for me. All these notes in the margins.”

She laughed. “I warned you. I offered to get you your own copy.” She wanted to sit on his bed, but everyone could see them, and after the day before, they really should try better at keeping whatever they were under wraps. So, Claire opted to move one of the chairs closer to his side before sitting down.

“You are not buying me a book. I’m gonna get my own later.” He carefully bookmarked his place and pointed at his notepad. “Also, I would’ve foreseen Mr. Darcy’s attraction to Elizabeth much sooner than you did.”

Claire laughed. “You’re taking notes?”

“I’m not going to annotate your book.” He pushed his notepad so Claire could see. “See, I knew you would only like this book if it had a plot twist that you could predict by picking up cues throughout the book. Biggest plot twist would be that Mr. Darcy falls in love with Elizabeth.”

Claire took the notepad and laughed. Quotes followed by reactions or analysis. By the time Elizabeth overheard Mr. Darcy describing her as not tempting, Neil had predicted that he would fall in love with the protagonist.

She smiled. “Unfairly, you already knew it was a love story.”

“It’s written by Jane Austen, an author from the eighteenth and nineteenth century, and the first line is about marriage. Even if I didn’t know it was a love story-”

“So, you’re admitting you knew.”

“Never said that.”

“You implied it.” She couldn’t help her smile.

And it seemed like neither did he, because he smiled and shook his head. He let his head rest on the pillow. Then, he turned to her and blatantly said, “You’re impossible.”

“And you’re full of yourself.” Claire clicked her tongue and reached into her pocket. “Unfortunately, I still care about you, so extra pudding cup?”

She put it on his tray and slid it over to him. 

“What’s so unfortunate about that?” Neil tilted his head. “Shouldn’t I be buying you food?”

“We’re not on a date.”

“Are you suggesting we should go on one?” He smiled again at her, and she still couldn’t believe Neil loved her back. She was already lucky to spend one-on-one time with him and see that smile. An excited “yes” was right on her tongue, but she was better than that. Nice and slow after all. 

“You said you should be buying me food.” She leaned back into her chair. “I believe you’re the one that brought it up.”

He opened the pudding cup. “You said the word, ‘date,’ so if we were on record-”

“Which we aren’t.”

“-it would point to you.” He smiled before popping the spoon full of pudding into his mouth. He hummed. “This is actually not bad.”

Just then, Claire’s alarm went off. She quickly dismissed the reminder. “Back to work,” she said. 

“Right. You should go.” Neil lifted his pudding cup. “Thank you.”

She straightened her clothes and smiled. “Of course, anytime.” She didn’t want to leave, not yet. It was unfortunate that lunch breaks were so short, and she wanted more time. 

And the way he was gazing at her suggested he felt the same way. 

He took a deep breath and lazily stared at his notepad. After putting it back by his side, he left his hand by the edge of the cot, palm up. Neil didn’t look up at her, probably to disguise his unspoken question to her to those who may have seen it. 

With a small smile, she squeezed his hand. Both of them wanted more, but they could still be seen by nurses and other doctors. They couldn’t go farther than this. 

It was better than nothing. 

She only squeezed his hand for a few seconds. “I’ll visit again,” Claire promised. Then, she let go, got out of the chair, and placed it back to where it was. Her hands felt so cold afterward. 

“I look forward to it.”

Then, she left to do her job, and he watched her leave with a dumb smile on his face. He really had to work on keeping it more subtle than that. 

~ - ~

It was five days after the earthquake that Claire realized how frustrating it must be for him to stay in one place. She felt stupid for not thinking of it sooner, but to be fair, she was a doctor. There were lives to save, files to complete, meetings to attend. Yes, Neil was on her mind, but she wasn’t a lovestruck schoolgirl.

The first idea that came to Claire’s mind was having lunch with him, but that was quickly shot down. She and Neil eating lunch by themselves? That was too much. She had already heard whispers about them about why she visited him during her lunch break the day before. No, she had to come up with another way.

It wouldn’t be suspicious if all the residents did it.

Even though Claire was sure all her fellow residents at least suspected something between Neil and her, she still wanted to be subtle. So, when getting lunch, she made sure to get it at the same time as Morgan. Then, she took an extra apple.

“Who’s that for?” Morgan asked.

“Dr. Melendez.” She sat down at a table. “He’s by himself,” Claire reasoned. “I’ll give it to him when I’m done with lunch.”

Morgan narrowed her eyes at Claire. She sat down across from her and asked, “What’s going on?”

“Nothing.” Claire took a bite of her food. 

“Uh-huh.” Morgan took a second to think. Then, she figured it out. “Oh.” Her smile was bright when she announced, “Well, I think I’m going to keep him company then. Since he is by himself.” Morgan got out of her seat with her lunch tray. 

Claire smiled. “Really? I’ll join you.” So, she followed Morgan, and Morgan caught the attention of Dr. Murphy and Dr. Park.

“Why are you leaving the cafeteria with your lunch?” Shaun asked. 

“We’re gonna eat lunch with Dr. Melendez so he’s not alone,” Morgan said. “You should join. We haven’t all been there with him yet?”

Dr. Park looked to Shaun and suggested, “You could get your lunch, and then we could go there together.”

“I like that,” Shaun said. “I don’t want to miss my lunch.”

“We’ll meet you guys there, then.” 

Neil was surprised to see both of them in his room during their break. It was evident, because he was still engrossed in Pride and Prejudice. Morgan had to clear her throat to get his attention.

“Dr. Reznick.” He tilted his head. “Dr. Browne.”

“We’re here to keep you company,” Morgan sat down in the chair closest to him, and although Claire knew that was going to happen, she still had to shake her head. “We thought since you haven’t seen all of the residents you have taught, we should get together.” Claire shrugged and took the chair next to Morgan. “Make sure you don’t get too bored.”

“I’m fine,” Neil said. “I had this.” He lifted up his book. 

“Pride and Prejudice?” Morgan shook her head. “There are better books, Dr. Melendez. Maybe some self-care books to help adjust.”

Neil only smiled. “I’m actually quite fond of this story.” His eyes met Claire’s for only a second. Because once she saw that gleam in her eyes, she had to turn away. Knowing he could cause her to take a deep breath and compose herself would go straight to his head. Instead, Claire decided to take a bite of her food, successfully avoiding that knowing gaze.

Still, she could practically feel Neil preening his feathers.

“Hello, Dr. Melendez.” Shaun and Dr. Park sat down to eat. “Morgan said we should eat with you since you’d be alone.”

Neil laughed. “I appreciate it, Dr. Murphy. I do enjoy talking to my residents.” He put away his book and notepad. “So, how is everyone?”

The five of them caught up. Morgan’s second surgery on her hands and gone well. She would be able to use her hands, but she wasn’t allowed to do any surgeries. Until then, she’d watch from the deck. Dr. Park was still going through the process of transferring. He wanted to find a nice apartment first, too. Shaun divulged that he and Lea were still friends, and the same could be said about Carly and him.

“I have been reading books Morgan recommended. I should be my best self before seeking the romantic approval of others,” Shaun said. “It has given me a different perspective.”

Morgan quirked her lips. “Told ya.”

Neil just laughed. “That’s good, Shaun.”

“What about you, Claire?” Dr. Park asked with a knowing smile. “We haven’t heard from you yet.”

“Me?”She made the mistake of glancing at Neil, who was look at his food with a smug smile. “Nothing much really,” she said. 

Morgan side-eyed her and sipped from her water bottle. 

“What about Dash?” Shaun asked. 

Claire cleared her throat. “I’m not seeing Dash anymore. We were better as friends anyway.”

“What a shame,” Neil said. “He’s a nice guy.”

Claire wanted to scoff, but it wasn’t appropriate. 

“Guess you’ll have to start dating again,” Dr. Park said. 

“I don’t need to be dating anyone.” She nodded at Shaun. “Maybe I should take a page out of Shaun’s book, instead. Learn to be by myself.”

Morgan hummed. “Well, I’m sure someone will ask you out soon.” She looked directly at Dr. Melendez and smiled. 

Neil didn’t reveal anything by his expression, but Claire could see him stretching his fingers before wrapping the blanket around his hand. Claire sighed. “Possibly. But as of right now, nothing has happened.”

Technically, Claire was telling the truth. Yes, she and Neil admitted their love for each other, but that was it. They were taking it slow. There was no date or even a label for what they were, so there was nothing to tell.

Neil’s jaw twitched. “You’ll keep us updated, though, right, Dr. Browne?”

She smiled. “Of course.”

Everyone’s alarm went off. “Back to it,” Morgan said. “It was nice eating lunch with you, Dr. Melendez.”

“You as well, Dr. Reznick.”

Shaun rushed out of the door. “I have a patient to help. Come on, Dr. Park.”

“I’ll see you later, Dr. Melendez.” Dr. Park smiled at Claire. “You, too, Dr. Browne.”

Claire shook her head at him, to which Dr. Park only shrugged, before following Shaun out. 

When everyone had left, Claire and Neil looked at each other with knowing smiles. 

“Nothing has happened, huh?” Neil teased. 

She shrugged. “Nothing I could tell them.”

He nodded. “Well, maybe you should tell them someone asked you out.”

“Someone asked me out? I don’t recall.”

“Really, it just happened.”

“No one said anything about a date.”

“Oh.” He smiled. He glanced at the door. No one was paying attention to them. Neil turned back to her and asked, “When I’m out of the hospital, would you want to go on an official date?”

“With you?”

“Yes.”

Claire turned from side to side. “I’ll think about it.”

“Claire.”

“I said, ‘I’ll think about it.’”

Neil laughed. “Impossible.” 

She cleaned up her tray and disposed of all the trash. Before she left, she turned to him and said, “Yes.”

“Took you long enough.”

“Impatient,” she chided. 

As she walked away, he shouted, “Get back to work, Dr. Browne.”

“By, Dr. Melendez!”

And even though they were away from each other, Neil and Claire both had smiles on their face. Their date was a long way away, but it was enough.

**Author's Note:**

> Hopefully this wasn't too bad, and hey, here's the petition to bring Melendez back.   
> https://www.change.org/p/the-good-doctor-fans-save-melendez-thegooddoctor?signed=true  
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
